CHICAGO - The feeling was much different in the United Center's visitors locker room six weeks ago.
Back then, the Heat was just coming off a 95-91 loss to the Bulls, a setback that extended Miami's losing streak to five consecutive games. It was the longest drought the Heat has had all season.
Emotions were raw. Feelings were hurt. Questions were asked. Doubt was dominant.
"It doesn't seem that long ago that I was walking down this hall and we had just dropped a game here and went to 24-27," coach Erik Spoelstra recalled Thursday night. "Some people had jumped off the bandwagon."
That was the lowest of the low for the Heat this season. Now, Miami is riding a bit higher. Much higher, actually, after Thursday's 103-74 destruction of the Bulls.
The Heat was so lethal early that all it needed was 19 minutes to build a 30-point lead, one it carried into the halftime break. This was never a contest after Miami's initial onslaught. The Heat (38-34) has won nine of its past 12 games and moved to 2-0 on a critical three-game road trip that ends Friday in Milwaukee.
D. WADE'S DOINGS: Wade has struggled mightily in his previous homecomings. But he decided to take the pressure off himself early in this one. "You always want to play well in front of your hometown, family and friends," Wade said. "But tonight wasn't about that. I stopped thinking about that. This was about team." So Wade took on the role of facilitator and carved up the Bulls' defense with nine first-half assists to go with eight points. The Heat was so precise early that it only needed 12 points, 10 assists and 29 minutes from Wade, who barely broke a sweat this time.
TURNING POINT: There really was no turning point. It was more like a blitz. The Heat raced to a 31-19 lead in the first quarter and pushed the lead to 30 midway through the second quarter. Miami's 63-33 halftime lead was the second-largest first-half edge in franchise history.
WINNING/LOSING EDGE: The Heat shot 60 percent in the first half. The Bulls couldn't even muster half of that percentage in shooting just 27.9 percent in the first half. Game over. Done.
HEAD-SCRATCHER: Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson delivered the humorous lines as expected during TNT's special court-side announcement of Thursday's game. The line about Jermaine O'Neal finding the hot tub time machine was classic. So was Barkley's insistence upon keeping the mic in front of his own mouth when he did the first-half interview with Spoelstra. He didn't know to even slide the mic over to Spo when it was Spo's turn to speak. But I'm not sure how I feel about that line from Barkley in the second half, when he said the Bulls were struggling like black people in the 1960s. I know it was meant in fun. But some things you just can't compare. There's a reason most people no longer compare sporting battles to war or make references to someone having an unstoppable night as that person blowing up "like the World Trade Centers." Barkley is 99 percent entertaining on things he says. There is no TNT show without him. But there is the rare time when he might want to think about what he says before he blurts it out.
KEY CONTRIBUTION: Jermaine O'Neal is pricing himself out of the Heat's potential pay range this summer with these type of performances. On Thursday, he got 24 points in 24 minutes. He also had two blocks, three assists and four rebounds. O'Neal said this is the best he has felt since the middle of his tenure in Indiana, when he was a perennial All-Star. He's finishing the season much better than it started. It will be interesting to see if he can carry this momentum down the stretch and into the playoffs. O'Neal has made 20 of his last 30 shots and is the timely defensive anchor the Heat needs.
NEXT UP: Heat at Milwaukee Bucks, 8:30 p.m. Friday - Bradley Center.
(For live news, notes and updates on the Heat, follow me on Twitter @ twitter.com/wallacesports. To post a question or join our live Heat chat each Thursday from 1-2 p.m., click here.)
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